


To See the Stars

by ScatteredStarlight413



Series: Tales of Keiraia [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:16:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29560386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScatteredStarlight413/pseuds/ScatteredStarlight413
Summary: The stars lie above the waves, and Flame would like to see them.
Series: Tales of Keiraia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2171718
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	To See the Stars

You open your eyes, seeing the pearly ceiling of your and Whisper’s home. 

Your name is Kěnpræ Řelkoraa.

You are thinking about what’s past the waves..

“Whisper?”

“Yes?”

“What’s the surface look like? Not the ground, I mean, but the sea. Well, what would be the sea for people up there.”

“Do you mean the sky?”

“If that’s what’s above the surface, then yeah.”

Whisper leans back on her seat, thinking. “It’s...it’s above the sea too. It’s infinite and endless, and it changes. Sometimes, it’s clear and blue, sometimes cloudy and grey, sometimes dark and speckled with stars, and in-between, it’s thousands of colors as the sun sets and rises.”

“What do stars look like?”

Whisper smiles. “They’re like...like a thousand infinite glowing points in the sky, making patterns and shining forever, until they die in flashes of light.”

You frown. How could a pinprick make patterns? “What do you mean, patterns?”

“Ah...when people look to the sky at night, when the stars come out, they search for a method to the madness, for patterns and paths in the stars. They call them constellations.”

You think about that. About people looking at darkness with wild lights and looking for truth in them. About images made of white pinpricks in the sky, about finding magic in the mundane. 

You think you might like to see a constellation one day. “What are some of them?” 

“Hmm...well, there are constellations for gods, for stories, for most anything you could think of. Some are clearer than others, but all of them are beautiful.”

“...do you know if I could see the stars someday?”  
Whisper thinks. “I don’t know, to tell you truthfully. The surface is...it’s wild. Moreso than the seas. But perhaps I could take you, sometime, after I teach you how to live there.” 

You nod. You’d never want to leave Whisper behind, but visiting the surface would be nice. It’d be nice to see where you came from. “That would be incredible.”

Eventually, Whisper starts teaching you how to live on the surface, how to survive there as well. At least, as best as she can without going there. 

After she teaches you to hunt, to cook, to go to towns and not seem out of place, she teaches you to speak the languages of the surface, to speak the language of humans, of the elves, of dwarvenkind. You pick them up quickly, and eventually, bring yourself to ask the question that’s been weighing on you since you realized you didn’t know human-speak.

“Whisper...what was I speaking when you saved me at first?” You know that you usually speak Eliiǎr, but you didn’t used to. After all, you had to learn it. 

Whisper sighs. “I do not know. My home translates for me, and did for you, but...it was no language I had heard. I’m sorry.”

That’s...what? You know you look human, but...maybe you’re not? There aren’t any mirrors in Whisper’s home, after all.

After you learn some of the languages of the surface, Whisper teaches you to fight. She explains that you should only fight as a last resort, but that eventually, you might need it, and if you have any magic she doesn’t know it. 

You decide to learn the spear. It’s usable under the waves and above them, and eventually you make your own out of shells and driftwood that’s been caught beneath the waves, a handle of woven kelp. 

Whisper teaches you to hold your breath, and to swim, fast and clever.

Finally, after a passage of time you don’t know, Whisper takes you to see the stars. 

You hold your breath as she swims, faster than you knew she could, you holding on for your life. The waves are warmer than when you first felt them, more kind, like an old friend rather than a deadly enemy. 

You reach the surface quickly, and float on your back, staring at the sky. The stars are still hidden, for now, and Whisper explains which constellations to look out for when they appear. 

The stars come out.  
They’re beautiful.


End file.
